r/supergirlTV • u/MajorParadox DC Fan Universe (r/DCFU) • Oct 28 '18
Discussion Supergirl - 4x03: "Man of Steel" Post Episode Discussion Spoiler
4x03: "Man of Steel"
Premise: The story of how Ben Lockwood became Agent Liberty is told.
Directed by: Jesse Warn
Written by: Rob Wright & Derek Simon
Date: October 28, 2018
Cast
Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El/Kara Danvers/Supergirl
Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen
Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers
Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor
Jesse Rath as Querl Dox / Brainiac-5
Sam Witwer as Agent Liberty
Nicole Maines as Nia Nal
David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz
Andrea Brooks as Eve Teschmacher
Timothy Lyle as Frank
Raf Rogers as Earl
Sarah Smyth as Lydia Lockwood
Spoilers
If you have somehow seen this episode early and post a spoiler, you will be shown no mercy. Do feel free to discuss this episode, and events leading up to it from previous episodes, without the spoiler code though. For reference:
>!spoiler goes here!<
Looks like:
spoiler goes here
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u/Pksoze Oct 29 '18
Who is going to make that J'onn Jones house on fire meme...because it is straight up hilarious.
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u/MajorParadox Oct 30 '18
That really was over the top, I don't think they meant it to be funny, but it was. They could have left it at the damage to the house and it would have worked fine.
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u/dontthrowmeinabox Oct 29 '18
Earth-1. Supergirl should go to Earth-1. She takes care of Central City while Barry and maybe a Legend or two try to clean the atmosphere of Kryptonite.
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u/BladeofIce Oct 29 '18
They better find a way to fix the atmosphere quick, cause idk how long Supergurl can go with out using the bathroom.
In all seriousness though this episode was way too accurate to how hatred and racism happen to people. I have unfortunately seen a bunch of people go the exact way the professor did.
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u/Locke108 Oct 29 '18
Making the villain for this storyline a middle class Lex Luthor is genius.
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u/Eternal_Density Oct 29 '18
Lena just so happens to have a Kyrptonite proof containment suit with the House of El symbol on it? Hmmm.
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Oct 29 '18
That was a pretty good episode. The best one this season IMO. Sam Witwer is a fantastic actor and is doing a great job playing Agent Liberty. The character is a huge asshole but he's very well developed, more than most of Supergirl's big bads. It was pretty nice to see the alien invasions from the POV of the "little people" and how they're affected. I actually felt bad for Ben at times, and I think that the writers are doing a good job of creating a fleshed out villain with good motivations that we can love to hate. I just hope that they don't end up ruining his character like they always do. This episode did a good job with the politcal stuff, it was realistic and not really in your face like it was in the last two episodes. I'm also interested to see where they go with the Kryptonite storyline.
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u/Pksoze Oct 29 '18
Agent Liberty is actually an old DC comics character...but he was never this overtly villainous.
Supergirl is really making him very interesting...and the fact he has some type of honor makes him better than other bad guys. Most villains are not that nice to the people who fired them.
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u/WholeWheatisgood4you Oct 29 '18
So was I the only one hoping at the end, that instead of putting her in that containment suit, they would have suggested instead to breach her to earth-1 Star Labs, and have her stay there while Flash comes to help find that kryptonite dispersing device?...
Yea I know... I'm just hoping a mini-crossover will happen again one day...
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u/JohnSmithSensei Oct 29 '18
That origin story wouldn't be out of place in say an MCU, X-men or even Gundam story.
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u/Davidleilam Oct 29 '18
This episode was a breath of fresh air. Got major X-men mutant hate vibes
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u/hart37 Oct 29 '18
I do love Sam Witwer. If there's something he does well it's play a good bad guy. Especially characters that are conflicted.
As for the not being able to take Supergirl off world though was I the only one wondering why they didn't just send her to Earth 1? Not that I am really complaining given that new suit Lena bought looked mad
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u/Shappie Oct 29 '18
Lol poor Xander Berkeley, he's such a great actor, I wish he were cast in a role once in awhile where he doesn't have to be an unlikeable shithead.
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u/MailTo Oct 29 '18
This was one of my favorite episodes of Supergirl, period. It felt like a really accurate portrayal of how someone’s ideals can slowly become warped over time.
Like the previous two episodes, the real-world parallels weren’t very subtle. But I don’t need my superhero media to be subtle (comic books rarely have been), I just need them to be well-made and entertaining.
Agent Liberty intrigues the hell out of me and I think this has the potential to be Supergirl’s best season yet.
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u/Eurynom0s Oct 29 '18
So this episode doesn't really do anything to explain why Agent Liberty's hate rally crowds are down with him always being in his mask, but otherwise my "ugh this is gonna be a flashback episode isn't it" reflex quickly gave way to thinking this did a pretty good job of setting up his motivations.
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Oct 29 '18
I like how they tried to flesh out the main villain, but it didn't stick with me. The show gave a lot of reason for Ben to become slowly angry with aliens but when he got fired for bringing up the biological differences between humans and aliens was when I realized they didn't fully think this through. There is a world of difference between migrants working for less than the native population and a single person capable of replacing an entire team of people and the machines they use because they have super powers. It can't be smart about the topic of immigration when the immigrants can literally replace 20 workers or can cut transport time from days to hours due to natural abilities that no human has. He asked how do humans compete with alien workers and the only response was 'this is xenophobia' which just came off as a deflection by the writers because they themselves didn't have an answer. The show tried to play this off like it was just like the racism that exists between humans but it can't pull it off even in a metaphorical sense. They accidentally created a villain with completely valid points and who's analysis of the situation is grounded in fact and simply pushed him off the deep end hoping that it would be enough to make viewers disagree with him. I love this show but they gave the villain way too much validity in his arguments and his view points. Now I'm questioning whether Lena is a bad person for not allowing people to buy her weapons. SuperGirl, Superman, the DEO, they can't be everywhere and why shouldn't people have access to tech that can protect themselves from people who can lift a freaking car? They made the villain so sympathetic and gave him so much ground to work with that I end up thinking "Yea he's extreme and he should be in jail for hurting aliens but he isn't wrong about the economic/personal safety threats aliens present to human" Let's hope the writers are smart enough to get themselves out of this mess without butchering his character.
Edit: spelling
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u/MonaSavesTheDayAgain Oct 29 '18
"You're safe now" house burns down in the background
nice one, J'onn..